Dallas Cowboys Blog

Cowboys haven’t targeted WR Dez Bryant much with game on the line

IRVING – The Cowboys’ two fourth-quarter collapses this season have more in common than quarterback Tony Romo turnovers.

Wide receiver Dez Bryant has been nowhere to be found late in losses to the Jets and Lions.
Bryant, arguably the team’s most dynamic playmaker on offense, has been a non-factor as the Cowboys wasted double-digit fourth-quarter leads.

That can partly be explained because Bryant has played with a deep thigh bruise since the first quarter of the season opener at the Jets.

On Sunday, three of Romo’s first 12 pass attempts were to Bryant. He caught all three – two for touchdowns – for 37 yards. Bryant’s last touchdown was his last catch of the game and it came with 11:03 left in the second quarter.

After Bryant’s last catch, the Cowboys ran 52 plays. Of Romo’s 35 pass attempts following Bryant’s last reception, only two were targeted for Bryant.

“He played 66 plays in the game, and that’s a lot of plays for a guy who’s been banged up and hasn’t been practicing,” Cowboys coach Jason Garrett said. “So he did a really good job in that sense, and he’s like a lot of the great receivers in the league where just when they break the huddle they have an impact on the game.”

Against the Jets, Bryant had three catches for 71 yards and a touchdown but nothing after the 7:38 mark of the first quarter.

Bryant has only two second-half catches this season for 50 yards in three games. In those six quarters, the Cowboys have attempted a total of 64 passes but only eight have been targeted for Bryant.

That’s more alarming considering Miles Austin – the Cowboys’ No. 1 receiver – didn’t play in two of those games because of a hamstring injury.

Garrett said Monday that conditioning is a concern with Bryant considering he hasn’t gone through a full practice since Sept. 9.

“Receivers need to be able to run throughout the ballgame,” Garrett said, “and when you don’t practice and you don’t run throughout the week, it’s hard for you to maintain the pace that you need throughout a 60-minute game.”